Best of Bowie: 30 - 26

30. "Oh! You Pretty Things" (Hunky Dory - 1971) Are we really just seeing our first track from Hunky Dory? Don't you worry, there will be plenty more. What a way to start that trend! "Oh! You Pretty Things" is definitely one of Bowie's more curiously strange tracks. A beautiful piano bounce care of Rick Wakeman in a catchy, show-tuney style is countered by Bowie's strange musings on the occultism of Aleister Crowley and the philosophy of Nietzsche. Common themes lyrically for Bowie throughout the 70's, but juxtaposed with this style it's definitely strange--beguiling may be more fitting. That's how Bowie rolls. Taking strange lyrics and injecting them into a sunny pop song. It came as no surprise to find out that Peter Noone of Hermin's Hermits covered this song, with Bowie playing piano for him. Add that to the list of strange collaborations.

29. "Time" (Aladdin Sane -1973) One common thread in a lot of David Bowie tunes is the exceptional useage of the piano. Be it an appearance of Rick Wakeman on the last track or Bowie himself, piano is a crucial and all too important instrument in the sound of Bowie's music. Easily the best album for piano stand-outs, Aladdin Sane has two phenomenal tracks where the piano takes over. First on this list is "Time." Mike Garson's performance here is strident, vampy and bombastic. it fits the bill for the song, a paranoid tryst of "Quaaludes and red wine." For all of it's over the top sound, it never feels overdone. Personally, Aladdin Sane is the pinnacle of Bowie's glam rock sound, moreso than his beloved but misunderstood by me classic Diamond Dogs. It may be the help of Mike Garson throughout the record or just the sheer insanity of it all, but "Time" is one of those integral pieces on Aladdin Sane and in the Bowie canon at large.

28. "Slip Away" (Heathen -2002) - Bowie revisits space. Images of future worlds, dystopia and space are also among the common themes that Bowie keeps revisiting. Here it becomes more about nostalgia than being in the moment of the Space Age. The song is a tribute to the "Uncle Floyd Show" which he learned about through his good friend John Lennon. I do not personally know much of anything about the show, but what I do know is that this track is beautiful. It's a slow, sweeping anthem that builds in sound. Of his later career beyond his "golden years" in the 70's, this is the highest of high points for Bowie. Tony Levin's bass slinks in the background of yet another piano driven song and Bowie's vocals hit new heights even in the autumn of his career. Unfortunately, Heathen was not his final album. It was followed up by Reality which has a few decent moments but none that compare to the grandeur and beauty of "Slip Away."

27. "Stay" (Station to Station - 1975) The monumental album Station to Station is chock full of great cuts and only one song from that album didn't make this list... due to it being a cover. That said, "Stay" is one of Bowie's best melanges of a funky leftover riff from Young Americans and infuses it with some hard rock and paranoia typical of Bowie's late 70's output. This song is most notable for Carlos Alomar's soaring guitar workout. Throughout the tracks six minutes, Alomar strings together some funky riffing overlayed with searing guitar solos that swirl in and out around you. Bowie's desperation in the lyrics also stand out. His strung out desperation whilst stranded in L.A. for two years is conveyed both lyrically and through the strain heard through his vocal delivery. For as rockin' a song "Stay" is, it's also terribly dark, pointing toward the road that Bowie was going when he left the USA for Berlin the following year.

26. "Let's Dance" (Let's Dance - 1983) Ahh yes, the greatest of Bowie's 80's big hits. "Let's Dance" came out the year of my birth. It was a huge success for Bowie, although it would ultimately be the death kneel for his career for a few years (save for a few hits here and there, this album was essentially the end of Bowie's prolific career.) Notable on this track is the guitar work of the late Stevie Ray Vaughn who delivers a subtle and subdued yet ultimately memorable guitar riff. More so than even the song being great was the songs video, a tribute to the lost souls of Australia. If for no reason other than nostalgia and this being one of the very first Bowie songs I loved as a kid, this song also has a balls out, crazy album edit that sprawls for 7 minutes of pure dance hall beats and a horn section that goes all out jazz on your face. It's not just nostalgia, I take that back. This is one of those great songs from the 80's, far and away better than most of the songs released during that strange, drug addled and synthesizer heavy decade.

Best of Bowie: 40 - 36

40. "Cracked Actor" (Aladdin Sane - 1973) - One of the many great, grungey blues riffs on Aladdin Sane, "Cracked Actor" is a song of crazy sexual abandon in L.A. When Bowie was on tour in the US for Ziggy Stardust, he wrote quiet a few tunes about his touring experience. Aladdin Sane would become the album of these tour songs and "Cracked Actor" is definitely the Ziggy vision of Hollywood. It's a vision of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll that is gritty, dirty and hard rockin'. This album really showed a more aggressive rock and roll approach than the more baroque arrangements of his prior Ziggy material and for that it's worth blasting and rocking out to. The title of the song is curious as well as Bowie himself is an "actor" of sorts, putting on these disguises and costumes. It may have been a reflection of the hard times on the road and the need for "company." This is all speculation on my part. Regardless of the true meaning of the song, "Cracked Actor" is one of Bowie's hardest rockers.

39. "Win" (Young Americans - 1975)- Quite the opposite of the aforementioned tune, "Win" is a slow jam of jazzy and smooth proportions. Instead of aggression, "Win" turns up the charm, but still in an unsettling way, mainly in it's lyrical content. Bowie has rarely looked at the brighter side of life and even in this slow jam that'll make the ladies fall to their knees, there is a sense of doubt. It's not quite a love song, although musically it sounds like a bedroom anthem. It's more of a song about not giving up. "All you've got to do is Win." Bowie's shattered croon is backed up again by glorious backing vocals and a rippling saxophone. It's a wonderful track. If you think that this style isn't an influence on future generations, Beck performed this track on several occasions (including in Philadelphia where the song was recorded.) Beck also did his own mock up of a jazzy, love-fest on Midnite Vultures with the fantastic bedroom jazz of "Debra,"an obvious antecedent to "Win."

38. "Starman" (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - 1972)

One of Bowie's more classic pop-rock moments, "Starman" is a sumptuous treat. This is another side of Mick Ronson that many don't give him credit for. The string arrangements throughout this album and this song are all by Ronson as well as the catchy riffing. He excelled at creating a functionality for string arrangements amidst a rolling rock ballad. Mirroring T. Rex, Bowie's main competitor for glam rock king at the time, but this song soars high and into the ether. This is Bowie's ballad to rock and roll as a saving grace. This was a constant message in a lot of music in the late 60's and early 70's and this is one of the more hopeful visions in Bowie's catalog.

37. "TVC 15" (Station to Station - 1976) One of Bowie's stranger lyrical songs, "TVC 15" is a disco jam for the ages. It's swirling verses, sung with crazed abandon and almost out of breath intensity create an air of unease amidst a killer beat. The track based on a drug binge with friend and cohort Iggy Pop after Iggy hallucinated his TV eating his girlfriend. Strange, but coming from the mind of a guy deeply paranoid and over-drugged, it's no surprise. As many Bowie songs tend to, this track has a brilliant backbone of piano and guitar haze. This track showed that Bowie's new-ish band of Carlos Alomar, George Murray and Dennis Davis really was coming into their own. Although not as flashy a guitarist as Mick Ronson, Alomar's understated playing with the ripping rhythm section was flexing their muscles with this track. (Editor's Note: The video here from Top of the Pops is fucking stellar.)


36. "I'm Afraid of Americans" (Earthling - 1997) It's a common mistake to give full credit to Trent Reznor for "I'm Afraid of Americans." Although the version that he remixed is in fact the one we most know and hear, this track dates back to 1995's Outside, which was recorded and written by Bowie and Eno. Although there version . Much like "I'm Deranged," it deals with paranoia but in a much more sardonic way. The industrial vibe of the song makes it a no-brainer as to why Trent Reznor was tapped for a remix. His version adds just a bit of edge to the song with his usual drum loops and intensely heavy guitar. Even more memorable to most, this is one of Bowie's best videos with a paranoid bowie being stalked by an exquisitely creepy Trent Reznor through the streets of NYC.

Best of Bowie: 45 - 41

45. "I'm Deranged" (Outisde/Lost Highway Soundtrack - 1995) The 90's were sort of the return of the Thin White Duke. After his highly successful Let's Dance album, Bowie had faded fast in the 80's with a series of sub-par records. It happened to many of the best of the 70's artists (see Neil Young.) Triumphantly returning with Brian Eno producing and co-writing, Outside is an intense, industrial record. "I'm Deranged" is a frantic barrage of drum machines, paranoid bass drones and strings that come in and out. It's a true-blue Eno/Bowie collaboration mixing the best of what the duo can do. It's usage as the opening for Lost Highway is sheer perfection. David Lynch's crazy dialectic of a movie is perfect for Bowie's constant struggle with the duality of man. I can still see Bill Pullman/Balthazar Getty running from the past to the kinetic energy of this song.

44. "Breaking Glass" (Low - 1977) After his stint living in the United States, one filled with cocaine addiction and massive paranoia, Bowie and friend Iggy Pop moved to Berlin to start a new life. Thus began the "Berlin Trilogy" of Low, "Heroes" and Lodger. "Breaking Glass," a short but tasty bit of pop music goodness, is very much the perfect tid-bit of what half of Low was all about. Passing snippets of extremely catchy yet dark pop songs. Recounting a Bowie legend of how he was obsessed with Alasteir Crowley (a constant, recurring figure in Bowie's lyrics and vision) and his ritualistic strangeness while holed up in his L.A. home. It's a creepy, unsettling lyric coupled with a catchy, groove driven by the bass of George Murray and the heavily treated drums of Dennis Davis. Both dudes receive a writing credit, probably due to the very improvisational recording process Bowie undertook during this era. It's kind of a shame that the song only lasts but 2 minutes as it's funky groove could go on and on and not become boring.

43. "Word On A Wing" (Station to Station - 1976) Speaking of Bowie's crazed stint as a U.S. resident, "Word On A Wing" is Bowie's cry for help as he deteriorated from massive stress, personal anguish, cocaine, cocaine and more cocaine as well as a fear that Jimmy Page was out to kill him. A prayer of sorts, or a cry for help, "Word On A Wing" is a powerful song all around. Driven by piano and a lonely, but distant guitar part, this is purely a feat of Bowie's vocal performance. Multi-tracked backing vox lift this into the realm of neo-gospel while Bowie's almost tearful and brutally honest lead knocks it out of the park. This song is the perfect compass point to where Bowie was but where he was going. The lofty, gospel feel is much like some of the tracks on Young Americans, but it's darker lyrical quality was a point to the Berlin era. A beautiful song no matter how you look at it.

42. "Diamond Dogs" (Diamond Dogs - 1974) I'll admit this right away, of all of Bowie's 70's albums, Diamond Dogs is my least favorite. And it's strange as it's a dystopian concept album with a song "1984," one of my all time favorite dystopias. However, of all the glam rock albums it seems the most stale. It was probably the lack of Mick Ronson on the album and on the titular track that made it slide. Bowie's guitar work isn't too shabby, but it lacks the bravado and style of Ronson. "Diamond Dogs" is still a killer track. As Bowie was transitioning to a new band on this album, most of the music is Bowie's own doing, including the super catchy sax riff throughout the track. It's another reason why I don't generally love this album. Bowie's best work was always backed by great collaboration, but here it's a one man show. It's one of only two songs from Diamond Dogs to show face on this list with the other one a long way off from here.

41. "Slow Burn" (Heathen - 2002) In my humble opinion, "Slow Burn" is Bowie's final great single. Although it won't be the last song we see from Heathen, it is the only single from the album to make the cut. It could be my bias for Pete Townshend, who also delivers one of his best and probably the last best guitar solo and performance since "Eminence Front" in 1982, but "Slow Burn" is a fantastic track. It's a timely song, filled with Bowie's usual paranoid vision of society. The line "but who are we?/So small in times such as these" is fitting today, 10 years after the song was originally released. Sure, ten years isn't that long, especially since most of Bowie's material on this list is verging on 40 years old, but it's definitely still a feeling that many post 9/11ers are feeling. Unease about our cultural direction, our political quagmires and just general day to day living are all easily relatable to this hard rocker of a song. By no means am I saying Bowie intentionally went for something with a message, but there is no denying that a line like "And the walls shall have eyes/And the doors shall have ears/But we'll dance in the dark/And they'll play with our lives" is a little too close to reality.